I'm taking your suggestion: Why don't you face that fan toward Lake Michigan? We are having another September morning and have missed the typical humid dog days of summer. I seriously like the humidity and will not have experienced my Summer if we don't get some heat over here quickly. I might have to move farther south if things don't improve here and the globe doesn't begin to warm up pretty soon.

What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him? Who will bring a charge against God's chosen ones? It is God who acquits us.

Who will condemn? It is Christ (Jesus) who died, rather, was raised, who also is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?

As it is written: "For your sake we are being slain all the day; we are looked upon as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:31-39)

These verses are very well known to us. But it is very good to read them often. Our adversary's main stategy against us is to deceive us into believing that God is absent, or not concerned about us. He wants us to believe that God is somehow witholding something from us----just as he accused God to Adam and Eve in the garden.

But when we read these verses we see that God has overwhelmingly done EVERYTHING to completely save us and bring us safely to himself. NOTHING can separate us from the love of God! If God is for us who can be against us?? If He did not spare his own Son in redeeming us----how is it possible He would want to withold anything that is the best for us? If the King of Heaven would leave his throne and become a man to die for you, how could he possibly abandon you or not be deeply concerned with your life? His eye is upon you---though you may not "feel" Him near---He is as close to you as your own thoughts.

How often I need to ask God to forgive my unbelief, and also my ungratefulness to Him for all He has done for me! What a wonderful God and Father we have! How often I need to remember that it is ALL OF GRACE. I had no "righteousness" when I first believed, and I have no "righteousness" now either! ALL that I have has been given to me as a free GIFT from God---even the ability to believe! He has provided for every aspect of my salvation and HE WILL NOT LET ME FAIL. Praise God for his unspeakable gift!

"I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep".(John 10:14,15 ESV)

It's amazing to understand from the above that Jesus knows each one of us just as intimately as the Father knows Him! Imagine that! How dearly does the Father love the Son? "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased". Imagine then when Jesus says "I know my own....just as the Father knows me.." the depth of His knowledge of each of us individually, and the infinite heart that embraces us with His love? Earlier in the same chapter Jesus says He "calls his sheep by name and leads them out".

Can we doubt the love of Jesus for us? He says "I lay down my life for the sheep". How easy it is for us to fall under condemnation, and "follow Jesus afar off" as we view our own unworthiness. How we need to remember just how much Jesus loves us---He loves us just as the Father loves Him. He is a GOOD Shepherd, who owns us, leads us, guides us, protects us, provides for us, and calls us by name to follow Him. We need to remember who Jesus is--and run to him. "Let us come boldly to the throne of Grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Heb. 4:16)

“Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king's food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see.” So he listened to them in this matter, and tested them for ten days. At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king's food. So the steward took away their food and the wine they were to drink, and gave them vegetables". (Daniel 1: 12-16 ESV)

I started reading Daniel this morning and the first message I got was to eat healthy. It is the first recorded instance of a "before and after" shot. After 10 days Daniel and the others really were healthier in appearance. I don't know about you, but when I think "the KINGS food" I think "Whopper". It's hard to turn away from a "Whopper" for a bowl of salad. But Daniel, and the other (3) youths proved it pays to eat healthy food. It's Biblical. Salad and water are definitely better for you than a burger and a coke.

What about the protein in meats and cheeses? I don't get enough to last more than an hour with veggies and many folks find that they can't function as well, health-wise on just veggies. The soil back in OT times must have had more nutrients in it than there are now, that were absorbed into the veggies that they ate.

Maybe "the king's food" was more cake, goodies, and party stuff, like tons of wine?

Salad and water would last about 30 minutes for me, and I'd be bottoming out, sugar-wise, and gasping for air.

"But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,nor the heart of man imagined,what God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Cor. 2:9)

Have you ever looked at an incredible piece of artwork---either landscape or fantasy, etc.,and thought how incredibly beautiful it looked, and how you wished you could be there?The above verse says that the heart of man is incapable of imagining what God has preparedas a reality for those who love him!! And of course, "we love him because He first loved us".

What an amazing hope we have as Christians! And as amazingly beautiful as our future home will be, the most beautiful and wonderful thing of all will be to see Jesus Himself! Right now the above verse seems like a dream. We look around at the world---and though there is much beauty in it, there is also so much ugliness, due to sin and selfishness.

But imagine!! One day the opposite will be true. We will live in a place unimaginably beautiful with Jesus, and there will be no more sorrow, or tears or pain. Perhaps as we look back this whole world will seem as though it was the dream. Did I really used to drive on freeways, pay bills, cry and lament? Or perhaps we will not be able to remember any of it at all. But maybe though---as we look at the wounds in Jesus' hands and feet, we will remember what used to be, and how the Lord himself destroyed it--but it will seem so far away, so far removed, that it will seem as though it was a dream. What seems as a dream now will then be a reality, and this present reality as a dream. What a wonderful eternal day that will be!!

The Bible says we need to "encourage one another as we see the day approaching" so we do not lose hope. Read the above verse and think upon it---it is a promise of God that WILL COME TO PASS, though now it seems so far off. God says in Revelation to John the Apostle "Write, for these words are Faithful and True". We can trust the Lord. One day we will observe, and live in such beauty and joy it is beyond our ability to even imagine!!

"O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy". (Daniel 9:18)

How often we approach God reluctantly, or don't approach as closely to him in our hearts because of some wrong we have done---or feeling of great failure or inadequacy we have. We somehow think that if we could get ourselves clean enough or upright enough BEFORE we approach God that he will hear us--we think that in our present state how could God even possibly listen, or even want to listen to such a failure as us?

Sometimes, some of us are prone, even after confessing a sin, to wait a while until the sense of condemnation passes a bit before making an approach to God. It's hard to shake the feeling of shameand unworthiness--so we think we'll get ourselves "cleaned up a bit" first before praying.

We so easily forget that God is not listening to us because of something in US that makes us worthy---but because of what Jesus has DONE, and God's great mercy as a result of what Jesus did on the cross. Daniel states the same above in his great prayer to God for Jerusalem-----it is not "because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy" he says as he presents his plea before God. Daniel realizes it is not something in him, or in the eloquency of his prayer that gives him the confidence to pray, or that will cause God to hear-----but GOD'S MERCY ALONE.

How we need to remember that the power does not lie in our prayers, or in ourselves in any way---but in the mercy of the God we pray to, and his great lovingkindness and forgiveness towards us.

Therefore, I will hedge in her way with thorns and erect a wall against her, so that she cannot find her paths. If she runs after her lovers, she shall not overtake them; if she looks for them she shall not find them. Then she shall say, "I will go back to my first husband, for it was better with me then than now." So I will allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart. From there I will give her the vineyards she had, and the valley of Achor as a door of hope. She shall respond there as in the days of her youth, when she came up from the land of Egypt. (Hosea 2:12-15)

Many times in the Old Testament the way God speaks to and deals with his people is a type of how God speaks and deals with Christians as individuals in the New Testament. We are fond of verses in Isaiah 41-43 spoken to Israel which we apply to ourselves as Christians. These verses in Hosea reflect this also.

When we as Christians stray from the Good Shepherd, he "hedges" us in, and "erects walls" so to speak, so we don't harm ourselves, but also to make us so uncomfortable we simply cannot live that way any longer. We finally say, as is stated above "I will go back to my first husband, for it was better with me then than now". How closely that resembles the lament made by the Prodigal son in Luke 15! Things had gotten so bad that he said "I will return to my Father and ask Him to make me as one of his hired servants". Then the Lord says above "I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart". He first leads into the desert, where we will yearn for the water we once had, and then He "speaks to our hearts". Then as restoration takes place God yearns to "give her the vineyards she had", and to return to "the valley of Achor as a door of hope". It is God's total desire that we have the hope and joy we once had in Christ.

He then says "She shall respond there as in the days of her youth, when she came up from the land of Egypt". I believe this is clearly referring to the first joy we had----the joy of our salvation when we first believed. That is where we need to return-----to go back and remember what the Lord once did in our lives and return to him----to respond to Him.

Are there any reading this that know they have strayed from the Lord? Do you feel hedged in, walled in, or as though you were walking through a desert? It is because the Lord loves you so much. He is leading you back to himself. He desires to give back to you what you had before, and to see you restored to joy. We just need to listen, and turn again to Him that is so willing to forgive us, and restore us to a path that can only bring good to our lives. How merciful God is to us, and how gently he leads us, with rod and staff, carefully watching over each of his sheep. He calls each of us by name.

I received a response to the post below (Hosea 2) on another site which stated that I believe that "God's love is unconditional", and that somehow this is false. Yes--I do believe God's love is unconditional---towards His own people that have received Him and are his children His love is unconditional. All one need do is read Luke 15 and the parable of the Prodigal Son to see this, or look at how one treats their own children. If one of your children go astray do you put a curse on them, or do you strive to lead them back to a path that is best for them? I think we all know the answer to that. And if we as humans show that type of love and mercy unconditionally, how much more God the Father? Enough said.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heartdo not depend on your own understanding.Seek his will in all you do,and he will show you which path to take" (Prov. 3:5,6)

We've all heard this statement": "Did you pray about it?" Pretty standardin Christian circles. And often we say "yeah, sure I prayed about it".But it's funny how often I realize that I have not really brought what is troublingme to the Lord. Have I really gotten on my knees, and said "Lord, here's the fullsituation. I'm so worried about this.... or I'm so angry about that... have I really"cast all my cares upon him" and remembered "because He cares for you"?

I really think all of us have a tendency to hold onto our troubles. We complain to Godabout the problem, but don't really get on our knees,and lay the whole situation out infront of Him and ask him to guide us. We'll cry out "I don't understand why this is happeningLord!"----and yet the above verses say "do not depend on your own understanding"!!

God truly does want what is best for us. And when we can believe that and put it into his hands we truly can have peace realizing he WILL show us the correct path to take---He has promised to do so. And God is faithful.